SpellDancer, Chapter 1 (Spoilers)

[SYED]

Yay a brand new story, a new universe to argue and debate in the forum. It sounds like it will be epic, pirates, magic, air ships, under water worlds ,the sky is the limit.

So this world is 90% water, so they have around a third of our land mass. How much of this is concentrate on the lands of the 9 races and how much is divided amongst the little islands? I had this idea, the islands are said to be the result of volcanoes. The wavewalkers had great power, i am wondering did they sometimes influence volcannoes to erupt in a kind of controlled fashion to create new islands. The auther mentioned their magic is similar to the bending styles, and if they can manipulate water, then lava is possible. Due to scale and power, it might have been a tribe or multiple ones working together to create more zones of safety in the vast.
Does this world have ice caps and is it counted amongst the land calculation? I bet the wave walkers visited the ice caps, their magic allows them to breath under water, and manipulate it easily, dealing with cold would be simple. I doubt even those fish men that eat humans would go to the ice caps that i think were known as the Sahu, so i can see that place being a haven. There might be uncharted islands in the ice, with the ice shaped around and on the island. The ice could allow for permanent structures, so a meeting place/sanctuary for the tribes. They might yet be untouched by the empire, if hidden away enough.
I wonder if the lone island is real, and untouched. Who knows what has been hidden or placed there.

They might have been based on wood, bone and stone, but i bet they used magic to alter and enhance it. The wood could be harvested with out harming a tree, or shaped as a whole. Stone could be maniulated like clay. all through magic, so seperate parts. Their magic might allow then enhance or augement their materials to be the equal or superirity of metal equivalents.
So their magic was so advanced and developed, they literally was beyond mere tools. they seemed like a post scarcity society. Any thing they needed, they had a magical way to provide it. Fresh water is said to be rare, i bet there was a magical way to remove the salt when needed
if they considered land oasis in the desert of the vast, why did they avoid the mainlands? At the very least they could have visited the beaches or traveled inland via rivers.
I am wondering where all their secrets are. if they created runes, it potentially meant they had their own written language even if they were a nomadic people. They had to have somewhere they stored knowledge. The sirens might have been exposed to alot of it, and i bet those fish people keep trophies. We know th empire has some artifact, considered very valuable. Part of me hopes they get returned to the race they were stolen from, the other if hoping for them to get stolen from the nobles by the good guy. This story is said to contain pirates, so i bet wavedancer artifacts are very valuable, so prized any where. I runes and symbology are restricted by the emporer, then it would make sense if wavedancer artifacts are monitored. Due to their very nature, all wavedancer artifacts are magical in nature.

If they are burned by iron, why trade for their tools? I wonder if it was due to their magic, they react to iron as they do. I wonder how the tatoes or runes on items react to iron? Am i the only one thinking that he disease was deliberatly exposed to them some how. not necessarily to wipe them out, but at east weaken them enough that they need aid from the empire. We know there are very few true wavedancers left, but how many have any of the heritage. That village seems very sexually liberated, so possibly on other similar island regions, the wavedancers interbred, the tyleshi people is they are all similar, might be a bit wave dancer in nature. I could see wavedancers easily hiding amongst a people of fishermen. It might be possible, as drown kids to see if they can breath inder water, or breaking bones, to see if they are waterdancers are not really possible. We know there were survivors, and they hid themselves. they might have hidden so well that their descendants have lost their history. I bet the wavedancers could have a way to detect if someone carrier the potential. In 300 years, a few suvors of the wavedancers might have numeroud descendants.

The Ethsandi sound cool, a traveler people. If they are so migratory, they might exchange their wagons of an air or sailing ship, to travel the world, sing songs for all. I wonder if shen can use magic from their dances or songs.
I was just thinking about what weapon our hero would have, sure he had magic but he needs a weapon now and then. At first i was thinking of a sword, but then i thought this guy is a fisherman and has water powers, so the best weapon for him is a kind of trident.

So the empire got traded the basics of runes, and from there created their own system of runes and symbology. The thing is apparently in most aspects they have yet to match the wavedancers, if htey can not fully recreate those skimfloating boards. THe thing is htey have developed new application, this to allow air ships, sailing and aid life on the main lands. The wavedancers would never have developed magics for such situations. It has only been 300 years since the fall of the wavedancers, while they had thousands of year to develop their magic, while the empirre has only had a couple of centuries. It might not just be the symbols, but how they make the item.
I am wondering, cou;ld he learn the imperial symbology, but instead of just copying it,, using his knowledge of wavedancer learning, augement it, to create improved versions. The noble could not see the runes shen had, so suggest that are readily apparent. The human body only has so much room for tattoes, so i wonder if the imperials have a maximum that would fit on a single person. Shen might be able to have the full collection or even more. Using symbology/runes, or his own version of it, would allow him to act, yet hide his true nature. Even if exposed, he would just be another illegal magic user, instead of an enemy of the empire.
There was a mention of a runic academy, so it is possible Shen might attend, or at least examine trheir lore. The wave dancers only shared the basics, so it might be easy to adapt the imperial version for his own use. We know the elder traveled the mainland, he might have picked up most of their magical arts. It would be great way to hide, yet retain the use of magic when needed. Better to be hunted for their magic than their heritage.
From what i get, runes are like those scroll that carry spells prepared before hand and have to be carried, while the art of symbology creates magical items or grant an enchantment to a persion. If they symbols place a magic on a person, are there negative ones that are used in punishment or something similar? symbology might just be like blessings in the walker stories. We have seen spelldancing and symbology, both the blessing and magical item version. I dont think we haveseen runes yet specificly. The whole expressing the true essence of something, sound like the true name idea.
Shen manipulated the sand to remove foot prints and create fakes, so i wonder can he form them into solid blocls as well. Can the attack spell be reversed to extinguish flames?

I wonder if we will see Rocs, and possibly fly on them. I bet the floating cities and air ships must deal with them, so they might have found a way, and the shens might make a better one.

Velrians is the third race we ser, and they are saiors or ay least some of them. That leaves 6 races to go, so we might get them soon or simply spread accross the story. I bet the emporer and most nobles are from one main race, while the merchants are mainly of another.

At least the village can salvage the wreakage of the ship. That might be useful. wont they get to the shens, by going after elvie family?

we know the races of man can learn runes and symbology, but are the spelldancing restricted to only wavedancers or could anyone be taught? The empire is the empire of the nine races of man, yet wave dancers were never a part of that group, and we're never a part of the provinces. So the Shens exist in a grey section of the law, they can't comitt treason as they kind of not part of the empire. Who knows how many loop holes their nature give them.